A NURSE who was given just three minutes to save her care home and the lives of 40 elderly residents has won her battle.

A NURSE who was given just three minutes to save her care home and the lives of 40 elderly residents has won her battle.

Wrexham County Borough Council has agreed to lift a planning regulation imposed on Gwastad Hall Nursing Home some 12 years ago.

The decision on Monday evening has helped to safeguard the future of the home, which is one of just six remaining nursing homes in Wrexham.

Owner Louise Hough said, "The home is safe for the foreseeable future although there are still problems with funding, as all nursing homes have experienced."

Miss Hough had been given just three minutes to argue her case - and that of her elderly residents - before the council's planning committee on Monday night.

A bizarre planning regulation had stipulated that the nursing home - home to 40 elderly residents aged between 68 and 101-years-old - and the neighbouring Hough family property had to be considered as one separate entity. It meant that neither could be sold separately.

Although Mrs Hough, who set up the home in 1987, has no intentions to sell, her financial backers wanted the condition removed to guarantee their investment in the business.

Without Wrexham Council agreeing to remove the condition the home could have been forced to close, leaving the 40 very sick residents with no where to live and little prospect of finding alternative nursing care in Wrexham.

The short-term future of Gwastad Hall is now safe but its long-term viability, like others across Wales, depends on an uplift in the level of fees paid by local authorities.

About 80% of people receiving nursing or residential care provided by the independent sector are funded by the local authority.

But most councils in Wales pay higher fees to provide care in their own residential homes than they do to those in the independent sector.